A cold breeze swept into the Jade Water Cold Pool, curled down from the cliffs into its waters, and raised wisps of mist, revealing a lingering air of secrecy.
Moss covered the blue-gray rock walls, but even that moss was dark and dull.
The ancient temple perched high on the cliff seemed like a ruin hidden from the world. Clouds and mist echoed through the mountains with the sound of the pool, seeming to stir up events from ages past.
Su Mo stood alone inside the ancient temple, gazing dazedly at the stone statue before him.
The statue was identical to the man in the dream within the ruins. The majesty in its brow made it seem as though he stood alive before Su Mo.
The man depicted by the statue wore armor beneath a dragon-patterned battle robe.
Its eyes seemed to hold a spirit as they looked at Su Mo, as though it had come alive...
Su Mo walked up to the statue, involuntarily recalling the lifetime they had spent as father and son in the Divine Realm's illusion, and the regret that had refused to depart from the ruins in the Forbidden Land.
That regret had become reincarnation, forever trapping that stretch of history within the Long River's painted scroll.
Yet that regret had ultimately ended with Su Mo, and the reincarnation had also ended at his hands.
He had thought a dream was only a dream, and once it ended, he would scarcely have any further ties to what lay within it.
Yet the statue before him had suddenly brought everything in that dream before Su Mo, as though telling him that all of it was real.
"Imperial Father..."
The unbidden call slipped softly from Su Mo's lips, seemingly carrying longing and sorrow.
A cool breeze blew